VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $16.99 and last traded at $16.48, with a volume of 44792 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $16.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VBNK shares. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of VersaBank from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of VersaBank in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of VersaBank from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.00.

VersaBank Trading Up 0.5%

The stock has a market cap of $526.54 million, a PE ratio of 25.35 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day moving average is $14.91 and its 200-day moving average is $12.84.

VersaBank (NASDAQ:VBNK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 10th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24. The company had revenue of $25.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $24.48 million. VersaBank had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 9.33%. As a group, analysts forecast that VersaBank will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

VersaBank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th were given a $0.025 dividend. This represents a $0.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 9th. VersaBank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.77%.

Institutional Trading of VersaBank

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in VersaBank by 2.7% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,915,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,604,000 after buying an additional 75,358 shares during the period. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp grew its position in shares of VersaBank by 4.0% during the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 1,052,650 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,000,000 after acquiring an additional 40,127 shares during the last quarter. Curi Capital LLC lifted its position in VersaBank by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Curi Capital LLC now owns 800,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,120,000 after purchasing an additional 38,337 shares during the last quarter. Pembroke Management LTD grew its position in VersaBank by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pembroke Management LTD now owns 523,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,388,000 after purchasing an additional 93,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of VersaBank by 18.9% in the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 354,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,330,000 after purchasing an additional 56,422 shares during the period. 56.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About VersaBank

VersaBank is a Canadian Schedule I chartered bank that operates as a fully digital institution, offering a range of deposit and lending solutions through its proprietary technology platform. Headquartered in London, Ontario, the bank has chosen to forego a traditional branch network in favor of online and digital distribution, enabling it to serve clients across Canada and the United States with efficiency and lower overhead.

The bank’s primary business activities include the origination and securitization of commercial loans, equipment financing, residential mortgages and construction loans.